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  5. Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services

American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics

ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)

Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services

  • Jamein Cunningham
  • Andrew Goodman-Bacon
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (Forthcoming)

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effects of the War on Poverty’s Legal Services Program (LSP), which provided subsidized legal assistance to poor communities, focusing on divorce and welfare access. We use a difference-in-differences research design based on the program’s rollout from 1965 to 1975. We find temporary increases in the rate of new divorces and persistent increases in welfare participation, consistent with LSP activities. We find increases in nonmarital birth rates that stem from falling marriage rates rather than rising birth rates. Expanded access to legal institutions thus contributed, directly and indirectly, to changes in family structure in the 1960s.

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